Pneumonia
by Aiko no Kaze
Summary: Was originally Reincarnated Journey, now it's just a one-shot. Kagome contracts pneumonia while walking in the snowy forest with Inuyasha five months after their marriage. Disregards the 3 years Kagome spent in the modern world after the defeat of Naraku.


**A/N:This was originally going to be a multi-chaptered story named Reincarnated Journey, but now it's just a one-shot. Enjoy!**

Inuyasha sat in the snow covered branches of the Sacred Tree. It was a beautiful winter day, but the beauty of it was oblivious to the hanyou as he sat, as he had been all week, thinking about the past. It had been a whole week since Kagome had died of some disease Kaede had called 'ni-mon-ya'. It had been too sudden for him. The memories assaulted his mind.

**-Flashback-**

It had been 5 months since they had officially married. The two of them had been walking through the snowy forest together, enjoying their alone time while being wary of any surrounding yokai.

There weren't many youkai around lately, however, since Kagome had wished the Shikon no Tama out of existence five months prior to their walk. They had been heading back to Kaede's village where Kagome was training to be a village priestess when Kagome was suddenly overcome by a coughing fit and sank to her knees.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha exclaimed worriedly, bending down to check on her. He frowned when he felt how swelteringly hot her forehead was. He knew that he should have made her wear warmer clothing, all she was wearing was her priestess robes and her strange future shoes.

He scooped her up in his arms, hoping some of his hanyou body heat would warm her up, and ran full speed towards the village.

By the time they had arrived, Kagome's fever had increased noticeably and she was shaking, her teeth chattering between coughs. Kaede was surprised when the hanyou had burst through the door of her hut with the young priestess in his arms, but immediately noticed the severity of the situation and got to work.

She had Inuyasha lay Kagome on the cot in the corner while she got some wet rags to place on her forehead. After she applied the rags, she turned to Inuyasha. "What happened?" She asked, point blank.

Inuyasha shook his head slowly. "I''m not sure. We were walking in the forest when she started coughing and lost the strength to walk..." He stopped for a minute, taking a deep breath, remembering how helpless he had felt in the forest.

"I checked her to see if she was alright, and felt her burning up. I picked her up then ran here, but now she's worse..." He turned away then, his bangs covering his eyes.

He didn't want Kaede's probing eyes, or at least her one good eye, to see the worry in his. To him, worrying was a sign of weakness, and he hated showing his weakness to anyone.

Anyone except Kagome that is.

Kagome was a rare kind of person, one who accepted all people, despite their weaknesses and blood. When he wanted to use the Shikon no Tama to become a full yokai, she smiled at him and told him that she liked him just the way he was, a hanyou, a half-breed. While the demonic world ridiculed him for his 'dirty-blood', Kagome embraced him and promised to stay by his side forever.

He didn't know what he would do if she didn't pull through from whatever was wrong with her.

He turned back to Kaede, who had continued working on Kagome while Inuyasha had been collecting his thoughts, and was now pressing her fingers to Kagome's throat, listening to something intently.

"Do you know what's wrong with her Kaede?" Inuyasha asked, his gaze locked on his mate's pale face.

Kaede looked up, her face bearing a grim expression. "I'm not entirely sure, but judging from the symptoms, I would have to guess pneumonia." Seeing his confused expression, she added, "It's a disease in which the patient's lungs are infected, making it extremely hard to breath. Coughing and wheezing are to be expected do to the infection and lack of air, as is fever."

Inuyasha's eyes went wide, almost comically as he heard this. His sensitive ears could hear the slight wheezing sound coming from the girl's throat, and his nose could smell the wave of sickness and infection coming off of her. How could he have not noticed it before?

He swallowed once before asking in a chocked voice, "Will she be okay?" Kaede shook her head. "Only time will tell."

**-End Flashback-**

'And time did tell', Inuyasha mused to himself. Day by day Kagome's condition had worsened despite Kaede's efforts and Inuyasha's praying to whatever god would listen. It was all in vain.

**-Flashback-**

Inuyasha approached Kaede's hut early one morning, and could tell something was very wrong. He could smell the smell the tang of the tears shed by Kaede, Sango, and Miroku, he heard the wails of grief coming from Shippou.

Yet what he was most aware of was the stench of death that was slowly masking a scent he knew all too well.

He bolted into the hut, knowing in his heart what he was about to see. Kaede, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou were surrounding the source of the stench of death, crying.

Sango gripped Miroku's shoulder like a vice as she sobbed for her best friend, Miroku trying to console her, tears escaping past his lids. Shippou clung to her shoulder, sobbing for his surrogate mother.

Inuyasha stared in shock for almost a whole minute before he slowly made his way forward, terrified about what he was about to see. What he saw took his breath away.

Laying on the cot was the empty shell of the most important person in his life. Her face was a pale, dead-grayish color, devoid of any life. Her bright, stormy gray eyes that he always got lost looking in were now permanently hidden behind her lids. Her chest was immobile, as was her heart.

He was so attuned to the sound of her heart, yet try as he might he just couldn't hear the sound in his mind. It was like the silence had completely overridden it.

He closed his eyes, trying to replace the image of her dead form with the image of the perfectly alive Kagome he loved. He couldn't. He just saw the permanent reminder that he had failed her.

He drew in a shaky breath, a lone tear escaping his barrier of self-control. He had to get out of there, he couldn't bear being there a second longer.

He ran out of the hut, and into the forest where his life with Kagome had started, and the place where her sickness had started as well. He climbed up the Sacred Tree and sat on one of the snow covered branches, and waited. He waited for when his angel would tell him to come down and stop sulking, to come join everyone and eat, to at least do something.

He knew somewhere deep in his heart she never would, ever again.

**-End Flashback-**

Inuyasha waited in that same spot a week later. The rest of the gang had tried to make him come down many times, to eat, to sleep, etc., but he refused to move.

He ate the little food that they had brought up to him, but that was it. He wouldn't come down unless it was Kagome that called him down.

Bags had formed under his eyes from the lack of sleep, yet he wouldn't let himself rest. If he dozed off, he might miss Kagome coming to get him. He could hear the others whispering about him being in denial, about how he would soon have to accept her death. He wouldn't. If he accepted that she was truly gone, the barrier that he had built up so carefully since his mother's death would completely shatter. It had already cracked when Kikyou had died in his arms, it couldn't afford any more damage.

While he was in thought, he didn't notice that Miroku had walked up to the base of the Tree. He gave a small cough to notify Inuyasha of his presence.

Inuyasha looked down slightly, but when he saw that it was only Miroku, and not the one that he had been hoping for, he looked back up. "What do you want Miroku?" He asked in an irritable voice. His mood was bad enough with the lack of sleep, he didn't need to be pestered with the company of the others.

Miroku looked down, his expression nervous. It couldn't have been something that Inuyasha wanted to hear. "We have been discussing this for a while now, we wanted you there to give your input, but you refused to leave the tree..." He began, head still down.

Inuyasha looked at him, brows furrowed. "What input?" He asked, suspicious.

"Well, since it has been a week since...since Kagome's death," The monk took a quick breath when Inuyasha flinched, then continued, "We decided it was about time Kagome's parents were notified, they have a right to know, of course. We should also decide where to...bury her." He finished, peeking up at the hanyou, gouging his reaction.

Inuyasha glared at Miroku, his eyes more alive than they had been all week. "No." Was all he said before looking back up, staring into the trees.

The monk sighed. He had expected as much. He had to try a different approach if he was going to get through to the stubborn hanyou. "We can't just leave Kagome's body lying in Kaede's hut, Inuyasha. She needs to have a proper burial so she can rest."

Miroku paused for a moment before adding, "And you know that she wouldn't want you to be in denial like this. She would want you to move on, to be reasonably happy. You can't keep this up, Inuyasha." He started to walk away when Inuyasha said softly, "I'll go tell her parents now, we can bury her after."

He jumped down from his branch and walked towards the bone-eaters well, taking a deep breath before jumping in, a bright blue light signaling his entrance into another time.

Miroku gazed wide-eyed at the well, amazed that he had gotten through to the hanyou. He turned then and made his way back to Kaede's hut, ready to prepare Kagome for her final adventure. A single tear trailed down his face.

**A/N: Hope you liked it, please Review!**


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